


Transposition

by Milkteach



Category: Naruto
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Friendship, Gen, Introspection, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 06:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12006993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milkteach/pseuds/Milkteach
Summary: In which Uchiha  Sarada measures life in gradients





	Transposition

**Author's Note:**

> In which Uchiha Sarada measures life in gradients

 

It's lunch but instead you're occupied with homework Aburame-sensei gave a week ago. Well, it's not actually your homework, (you finished yours a day early) it's his. Boruto, the Hokage's idiot son, your sometimes friend,  is currently standing on his desk and ranting about the tragedy of having a homework. He's hopeless, but when you think of suffering through his ear-grating rants,  you chose the lesser evil of actually helping. 

" _Line B is the greatest possible distance a shinobi can throw his shuriken from a tree of 7 metres. For enemies who appear within the circumference of the shuriken's range, explain his attack options.",_ Boruto reads aloud.

" Who the hell does math in battle?! " He whines.

" It's essential", you counter. You'll gladly explain why but he's clearly  lost interest, chewing his gum and claiming a strong shinobi  need only strength and bloodlines. 

  
Fool.

  
You don't blame him though. If he doesn't see the value of accuracy in battle, that's his loss. You however, know it's a weapon. Transpositions and coordinates aside, it's not arithmetics that sets you aside from your peers. It's taking odd comfort on how numbers somehow set the world straight. So while they were in oblivious bliss during those sun-soaked years,  there you were, three years old, finally figuring out why 3 -1 =2 during family day.

  
Seeing your mother sometimes  set the table for three when clearly, there were only two of you to finish the meal.  
You begin to wonder how such a simple math can confound her. You point this out and she only responds with a smile and a "just in case." It's silly. After, as the years slowly peeled your childhood of wonder,  you realize,  it's actually sad. On bad days, it even feels empty. So before you knew it, you took the responsibility of such menial task. Two plates for two. Two cups for two. Someone had to set the ratios right in this house. Because you know numbers do not hold sentiments. Numbers are just are.

  
It took practice. Lots of it. To read the calendar and see the 31st of March and not count 4380 days of not knowing your own father. To come home to a 97.5 sqm  house and not feel the glaring space. To snuggle with your mother and not daydream about how tall your father is.  She says he's tall as a tree but your old enough to know that would be a genetic abnormality. You're curious about that number, desperate for it even,  if only to have an idea how your small frame would fit in his.

It's these everyday struggles between logic and longing you contend with. In the grand scheme of things, desk work equations are elementary. So you watch Boruto live his life with utter disdain for trajectories and distances. Perhaps born out of the privilege of having everything precious within reach. You bear him no ill will, partly because your mother raised you right. Mostly because you know how it is to wish for someone far away, infinite meters beyond home. To hate the distance. To settle for hypotheticals. For that alone, you consider him a friend. " And friends don't let friends get lost on questions. So you offer to help him again.

"Let's do it one more time.. if x=line B"....

**Author's Note:**

> *All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto 
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you Reddit for answering life's most random question aka "What were the 10 questions in the Chuunin exam?" So that "math problem" was actually a throwback, I guess Shino was feeling a bit sentimental :)
> 
> A word to the wise, don't trust any calculations done in this fic. Just don't


End file.
